Straight out of Hollywood
Archive for April 18, 2011
Simon Cowell Leaving ‘The X Factor’ UK for US Version
0767 days
by Screen Rant
in TV News
In an unexpected move, Simon Cowell has announced he will be leaving the UK version of his hit show The X Factor to focus more of his attention on the upcoming US counterpart.
British home of The X Factor, ITV, stated that Cowell is not entirely abandoning his post of the hit show. According to ITV director Peter Fincham, the former American Idol judge will maintain his role as a producer, taking an “enormous presence backstage” and dividing his time between the UK and US versions as much as possible.
However, this does not preclude Cowell from appearing on The X Factor UK sometime in the future. ITV states they are “talking about ways in which he can have an on-screen presence later in the series.”
Fincham went on to declare that there is no ill will for ...
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Matt Reeves Tackling New Vampire Tale, ‘The Passage’
0767 days
by Screen Rant
in TV News
Matt Reeves earned a healthy number of accolades for his remake, Let Me In, but the vampire story didn’t fare all that well at the box office. Reeves will nonetheless revisit that particular brand of supernatural genre territory with his new directorial effort, The Passage, an adaptation of the New York Times best-selling novel by Justin Cronin.
While the Cloverfield director recently signed up to write and direct an adaptation of the short story that inspired They Live as well, it’s more likely he’ll helm The Passage first – largely because there’s already a complete draft of the script, as written by John Logan (who’s now working on the screenplay for James Bond 23).
Deadline confirmed this news about Reeves becoming set to helm The Passage, which the site also describes as ...
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‘The Hunger Games’ Finds Its Rue and Thresh
0767 days
by Screen Rant
in TV News
With the big three roles in The Hunger Games – Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence), Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson), and Gale Hawthorne (Liam Hemsworth) – having already been filled, the search is now on to find young actors and actresses to portray the additional “tributes” to the 74th annual incarnation of the titular competition in Gary Ross’ film adaptation.
Two of said supporting roles in Hunger Games have now been filled: those of District 11 residents Rue and Thresh, as will be portrayed by relative newcomers Amandla Stenberg and Dayo Okeniyi.
EW has confirmed that these two will join Lawrence, Hutcherson, and Hemsworth for Hunger Games, which is based on the first novel in the best-selling trilogy by Suzanne Collins. The plot unfolds in a dystopian future where the country Panem (formerly, North America) is run by a brutal ...
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Thomas Jane Takes A "Headshot"
0767 days
by Dark Horizons
in Other News
Thomas Jane has confirmed on the JoBlo Podcast that he's signed on to star as an NYPD detective who's paired with Sylvester Stallone's hitman character to solve two murders in the Walter Hill-directed "Headshot".
"He's a hitman, I'm a cop, and we're just opposite in every f*cking way, and we need each other to get this job done. And of course I'm like, 'As soon as this job's over, I'm going to take you to jail, you know, you're a killer.'" says Jane of his character.
Shooting aims to kick off later this year in New Orleans. Meanwhile, Stallone has also confirmed that despite reports to the contrary, he will not be directing the sequel to "The Expendables".
Matt Reeves Seeks Vampire "Passage"
0767 days
by Dark Horizons
in Other News
"Cloverfield" and "Let Me In" director Matt Reeves is set to helm "The Passage" at Fox 2000 reports Deadline.
Based on the bestselling novel by Justin Cronin, the story a group of terminally ill cancer patients who become healthy when they are subjected to an experiment involving the bites from bats in South America.
The government starts further experimenting and end up creating a legion of nearly indestructible, telepathic vampire masters that begin infecting the populace. The tone is said to be along "28 Days Later" lines.
Reeves will supervise a rewrite of a script adaptation already penned by John Logan as Logan's too busy working on the script for the James Bond film. Ridley and Tony's Scott Free company is producing.
Reeves has been linked to numerous projects recently and just signed a deal recently to pen a new adaptation of Ray Nelson's short story "8 O'Clock in the Morning" (which was the basis of John Carpenter's "They Live"). 'Passage' however will likely take precedence over everything else as it's already so far along.